Newman's Spiritual Direction

Like Father Stanley Jaki's study of Newman's correspondence with prospective converts (Newman to Converts: An Existential Ecclesiology) Peter C. Wilcox's book on Newman as a Spiritual Director during his life as a Catholic mines Newman's vast correspondence (20,000 surviving letters in 32 volumes--ten from his Anglican period and 22 from his Catholic period from 1845 to 1890!).

Newman is often cited for his sensitivity to slights, but he was just as sensitive to others' feelings, especially if he might have hurt them. He tailors his spiritual direction as much as possible to what he knows about the correspondent, whether they are close friends or acquaintances, and reflects often on his own experience of the spiritual life.

Wilcox divides his book up into themes after general biographical notes:

Chapter 1: A Spiritual Biography of Newman
Chapter 2: Origins and Characteristics of Newman's Spirituality
Chapter 3: Spiritual Direction and the Providence of God
Chapter 4: Spiritual Direction and Faith
Chapter 5: Spiritual Direction and the Roman Catholic Church
Chapter 6: Spiritual Direction on Vocation and Religious Life
Chapter 7: Spiritual Direction and Friendship

There is some repetition within the chapters, especially as Wilcox reviews Newman's troubles as a Catholic (the failure of the Catholic University in Ireland, the Achilli trial, the Rambler episode, the divisions between the Birmingham and London Oratories, the translation of the Holy Bible, and the Oxford Oratory), in different contexts. This just demonstrates that Newman applied the same spiritual direction to himself when he wrote to others about their difficulties and failures. This is another great Newman study based on the correspondence that highlights some essential traits of Newman's: his care for souls, his desire for love and friendship (reciprocated) and his constant desire to know and do the will of God, which he also enjoined on his correspondents.

What I'm Reading Now: Newman as Spiritual Director

I purchased this book in the Kindle edition to read for more background to the Newman lecture next February:

John Henry Newman (1801-1890) was a man who sought to integrate life and holiness. He believed that the spiritual life needed to be lived in an active and dynamic way, touching a person's fundamental attitudes and actions.

Although Newman rejected the title of spiritual director as such, it is obvious from his correspondence that directing others through various facets of the Christian life was one of his dominant concerns. Surprisingly, comparatively little has been written about Newman's idea of spiritual direction. This book investigates Newman's understanding of spiritual direction during his life as a Roman Catholic, 1845-1890. It examines the major areas in which Newman gave spiritual direction through an analysis of the correspondence from his Catholic years. It also explicates those principles of Newman's own spiritual life that found expression in his direction of others.

Newman had a mammoth "apostolate of correspondence." His Letters and Diaries have been edited and published in a series of thirty-two volumes, embracing more than twenty thousand letters. The first ten volumes deal with Newman's Anglican period; the remaining twenty-two volumes cover his Catholic period and are the primary source for this book. These volumes have been studied chronologically in order to determine and extract the major areas in which Newman gave spiritual direction to others, and to investigate the stages of development in his spiritual advice.

One thing that caught my eye about the book was one of the blurbs:

"Drawing on Newman's vast correspondence, Wilcox has given us a very human portrait of a spiritual master of remarkable sensitivity. Readers will find Newman's account of the development of revealed doctrine reflected in his understanding of the spiritual development of ordinary people. Newman comes across as someone who listens with respect and then speaks with careful balance--promoting devotion without excessive piety, reasonableness without rationality, and compassion without sentimentality--always challenging without demanding."
--William Fey, OFM Cap., Bishop of Kimbe, Papua New Guinea

Bishop Fey spoke years ago at the St. Paul's Parish-Newman Center at WSU on his book about Newman on Faith, Doubt, and Certainty--it was soon after the 1979 Newman School of Catholic Thought, but my notes aren't dated.